Underwater Blind Date
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: This was all Yuu's fault, as payback for saying Airu was a perfect match for him and making him find someone who'd soak his fiery head in - but why not do a little exploring as part of the deal? And Mizuki was always up for an adventure.


**A/N:** Written for the:

Digimon bingo, the non-flash version, #932 - Mizuki/Tagiru  
Diversity Writing Challenge, e60 - write a fic that contains both scenes with only dialogue and scenes with no dialogue  
The 28 Days of Love Challenge, day 19  
Digimon Dawn/Dusk Remake Challenge, part 1c.2a - write a fic over 2000 words and include the moon or water as a strong motif  
Becoming the Tamer King, Sheer Valley Task

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 **Underwater Blind Date**

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'Aww, but you and Airu are so cute together.'

'You, calling us cute? Did you lose a few brain cells in the last basketball game?'

'Of course not! Taiki-san said the same thing.'

'...considering him and Akari-san, that's a case of pot calling the kettle black.'

'But you can't say that to me, can you? So I can say it as much as I want. You and Airu are cute together - when you haven't tied her up in some sort of trap, anyway. That's kind of disturbing. Aren't you guys too young for -'

'Get your head out of the gutter, Tagiru. She's the one trying to catch me in her traps.'

'You and every cute digimon she sets her eyes on. Which means she thinks you're cute, too. And you two match, always trying to catch each other.'

'I'm trying to stop her from catching me. Totally different reasons.'

'Sure. You don't give the girls in class this attention.'

'Because they're not leaving traps everywhere!'

'I dunno. A bunch of girls counts as a trap.'

'Aren't you a Hunter? Surely you could handle a problem like that… Though, it's not like you ever have that problem.'

'I will one day when I'm the greatest hero. And I learn by observation.'

'Yeah, right. You learn by doing things and falling flat on your face.'

'No I don't. Otherwise we'd all be still stuck in Quartzmon.'

'You did fall flat on your face then. Twice, at that. Granted, you did stand back up but that's got no relevance in this discussion.'

'Hey! My greatest achievement and you say -'

'You're still chasing Taiki-san, aren't you? You're the one still trying to surpass him instead of accepting you did that day. Though I guess that's not a bad thing…'

'And meanwhile, you're chasing after Airu, aren't you?'

'I don't think you thought through the implications of what you just said, Tagiru. Unless you've fallen heads over heels for Taiki-san?'

'What? No, that wasn't what I meant.'

'And do you have someone?'

'Geez, how did we even get onto this? We were talking about you and Airu!'

'Payback. Now answer the question, Tagiru.'

'Do I have a crush on anyone? Nope.'

'And yet when I say the same, you don't believe me.'

'Do you believe Taiki-san when he says he doesn't like Akari-san?'

'Well… no.'

'I think I'm actually winning this.'

'...no, I don't think so.'

'Come on, Yuu. You just don't want to lose, do you?'

'Of course not. Which is why you're going to go on a date with someone and take the spotlight away.'

'What? Why?'

'Because you're the type of guy who learns by doing stuff. I told you already.'

'Yeah, yeah, but that still doesn't mean I need to go on a date with someone I don't even know.'

'Doesn't have to be. There's the girls in our class -'

'-ew, no!'

'The other hunters. Nee-san -'

'-she'd kill me!'

'She probably would. There's Akari-san -'

-she'd kill me too!'

'Kaoru, Mizuki - actually, Mizuki's a good idea. She could dunk your hot head in the ocean.

'...you didn't mention Airu.'

'Do you want her?'

'No, but you didn't mention her, did you? Protective much?'

Great, it's settled. Let me know how your date with Mizuki goes.'

'Hey! You can't just decide that - get back here, Yuu!'

.

Sneaky Yuu, turning his teasing against him like that. He knew full well Tagiru couldn't turn down a challenge once he was slapped with it. And Mizuki wasn't the worst he could've come up with. He could've set his sister up to flatten him (though she had been nice when they'd met, she was scary when pissed) and Akari was even scarier. Airu might've actually been interesting, in that they could've traded stories about Yuu the entire time - but that'd grate on his nerves too.

As for Kaoru and Mizuki, they'd met… What? Once? Twice? Mizuki had definitely been at the final battle, taking pictures underwater of the Brave Snatcher. Well, at least he knew stuff about her. She loved the water. She had a Submarimon as her partner. She was a sort of treasure hunter and ocean cleaner and, presumably, she'd go visit Pleismon and the egg every now and then now that she had Submarimon back… Or even with her diving if she could manage it.

There was an idea. He could always say he needed diving lessons - but no, that was cheating. Damn Yuu. He had to specifically mention a date, didn't he?

Darn it. Hopefully Mizuki wasn't the kind of girl who got pissed at the idea of a date as a friend.

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'A date?'

'As friends, I mean. See, I was teasing Yuu about Airu - do you know Airu? She was the blonde with us, but she's not really a part of our team. She hangs out with Ryouma and Ren.'

'You're blabbing, you know.'

'Geeze, and I hardly ever blab. I just talk a lot - hey, don't laugh!'

'Isn't that better than me slapping you and stalking off?'

'...would you?'

'Nah, I'm just kidding. But a lot of girls would.'

'A lot of girls wouldn't have diving licences and teach Taiki-san of all people something he doesn't know how to do -'

'Taiki-san's your idol, isn't he? But yeah, I was surprised.'

'You knew him? He's so popular, isn't he?'

'Haha, but no. I've heard of his father though. Kudou-san's a great trainer. Goes all over Japan, you know.'

'Huh. I knew he was often away from home, but not because he was famous.'

'He kinda is. Not like Nene-san -'

'Wow, you know Nene-san as well?'

'Of her, I mean. It's cool to see someone from the area as an idol, you know.'

'You keep up with a lot, don't you?'

'Yup. Keeping up with the local legends, so to speak. Of course, you're on the list as well.'

'I am?'

'You're being modest? You defeated Quartzmon!'

'Well, Yuu still likes to point out I failed twice first.'

'You two like teasing each other, I guess. Otherwise I'd worry he just didn't like you. But at least you know how to treat a girl.'

'Really?'

'The tone of surprise again.'

'And you're laughing at me again. You're pretty neat, you know.'

'Really? Not every guy likes a girl laughing at them?'

'Yuu's the same, you know. Our friendship is pretty much built on poking holes into each other but we're both stronger for it. Granted, sometimes I wish we didn't when I wind up -'

'Having a girl you're not romantically interested in out on a date because you don't want to back down? Or are you actually trying to set Yuu and Airu up?'

'Bit of both, I think. But before that is Taiki-san and Akari-san. They're taking forever.'

'Fair enough. So, any ideas about what to do?'

'For what?'

'For our date as friends, of course. Unless you've changed your mind? Though I'm hoping you don't.'

'Don't change my mind or don't have plans.'

'Plans, of course.'

'Let me guess, you've found somewhere new to explore.'

'Got it in one.'

.

That wasn't too bad of an idea. Actually, it'd be fun. Just so long as no evil digimon decided to brainwash anyone this time around. It wasn't every day they explored underwater, after all. And diving the first time had been pretty good.

So going diving and exploring with Mizuki… and Gumdramon and Submarimon, so anyone making cootie signs could stop it because they'd have their chaperones. And they might find some digimon to hunt as well. Or some cool treasure - though treasure with Mizuki tended be the kind one couldn't pawn off for money - and fair enough. He didn't exactly need money right about now. He had childhood and adolescent years before he got to the point where he wouldn't be dependent on his parents anymore. And seeing a digimon like Pleisomon was pretty neat, anyway.

It would be great if they saw some rare digimon underwater.

.

'Did you bring lunch?'

'Nope. Figured we'd have less chances of birds coming to steal them or them floating away or getting blown off if we just buy fish and chips.'

'You're really banking on me sitting out of the stereotype, aren't you?'

'Well, every girl I know properly - not counting classmates because we tend to stay separate anyway - doesn't fit with the stereotype. 'kaa-san's got short hair. Akari-san plays shooting games. Nene-san went off to another country alone to pursue her career. Kaoru's kind of a detective. You taught Taiki-san something new.'

'Or you're recognising the things that make us us above and beyond our gender. But at least that means you don't expect me to wear frilly dresses and kimonos and being the subservient housewife or something to that end.'

'You'd leave me drowning if I did that. Or… no you won't. I'd pollute the ocean like that. You'd throw me on the beach and - hang on, I've seen you fight.'

'And? Scared I'd beat you?'

'Nah. I don't know who'd win, honestly. It's not like I'm a complete pushover.'

'Of course not. We're both Hunters. And you play basketball.'

'And tag along with Taiki-san for all the sports clubs he helps out - or some of them. Taiki-san helps them all, I mean. ...hey, how do you whistle like that?'

'Want me to teach you?'

'Hell yeah. But after the dive otherwise we'll wind up starving.'

'Probably true. Let's go.'

.

Tagiru remembered most of how to dive from the first encounter. He was a slow learner sometimes, but he didn't tend to forget things when he did learn them. Skills, anyway. Facts were another matter. He was good at math for that reason - which surprised Yuu to no end. Then again, Yuu was good at everything and way better, because he knew equations and stuff - but once Tagiru knew them too, math was a ballpark.

History on the other hand was a pain to remember.

But he remembered how to dive and Gumdramon only needed a digi-xros and so they were set to go, holding on to Submarimon's fins and diving down.

And it was just as cool to see it the second time around, and he wished he'd thought to buy a waterproof camera first so this time he could take pictures.

Oh well. He wasn't really the sentimental type, anyway. He'd much rather have the people around to have these sorts of experiences with again than the photos to freeze them in time. He'd rather enjoy the moment and he did, though dealing with the MegaSeadramon that decided to chase them was a lot tricker than they'd thought. It was fast, for one thing. Luckily their digimon were fast too but it was also far more mobile and familiar with that water.

And it broke the boat with its horn, so Tagiru had been right about the lunch after all.

So they headed straight for the land, trickier now that they were on the surface and had less maneuverability. And Gumdramon was already digi-xrossed.

Submarimon wasn't, and when their brains finally kicked in, Tagiru transferred Harpymon over and they had a winged submarine on their hands. Who could hover just out of MegaSeadramon's reach when he reared out of the water. Who could let Gumdramon get a breath to devolve and then super-evolve and then digi-xros with Dragomon because he was practically the mad king of the deep and surely a big seasnake couldn't keep up with that?

They were right, ultimately. It couldn't. It took a bit of a beating before it realised it was now outmatched and then a thumb war as the two tried to get each other to take it. Mizuki won (maybe from using Submarimon's controls so much) and Tagiru had a new member for his team. Not that he was complaining. But they couldn't have done it without Submarimon because the precious seconds lost in splitting apart and evolving would have had them as snake-food.

But the best sort of day out is an adventure, and it all worked out.

.

'You actually went on a date. With Mizuki.'

'Date as friends, and with Gumdramon and Submarimon, but yeah we did.'

'And she said yes?'

'She wanted company to explore a new area anyway.'

'...you have the most amazing luck.'

'Heh. Actually, it was fun. We got chased by a MegaSeadramon.'

'Only you would call that fun.'

'Mizuki had fun too. She preferred it to getting possessed by Dragomon.'

'Of course she did. Who wouldn't.'

'And she showed me a few more diving tricks.'

'I guess she did like teaching us.'

'And we got a leisurely dive afterwards too. She knows so much about the different types of coral and fish and stuff.'

'And you remember?'

'Nope. But I was paying attention at the time. You know me. I point at interesting looking stuff and she explains. Lots of texting underwater - oh yeah.'

'What?'

'My phone can take pictures.'

'And?'

'I didn't take any. Guess it doesn't matter. I'm not a picture person anyway.'

'And if I say that means you've got no proof?'

'You could just as Mizuki, you know. Do you really think she'd agree to lie for me?'

'Maybe? It's not like I know her that well. But sounds like you two were getting along nicely. Did you book a second date?'

'Yeah actually. We got hungry and between that and MegaSeadramon, we didn't finish exploring. And I want to say hi to Pleisomon. Mizuki says the digimon's about to hatch.'

'Oh, cool.'

'You want to come along?'

'On your date? No way.'

'Date as friends, remember?'

'Sure. You do realise Taiki says pretty much the same thing. He just doesn't use the word date.'

'Then what do you call you and Airu?'

'I call that nothing! Nothing.'


End file.
